KGB Museum

Historians visiting Tallinn have several opportunities to catch a glimpse into Estonia’s communist past. The former KGB headquarters on Pikk Street have welcomed visitors for several years now, and the KGB Museum, on the top floor of the Hotel Viru on Viru Valjak, opened early in 2011.

The museum, which can only hold 25 people at a time, occupies a hotel room that began to be used by the KGB in the 1970s and had been closed and untouched ever since the Iron Curtain fell.

The museum preserves the room exactly how it was left when the organization fled at the end of the Cold War. The equipment used to spy on people remains in place, and informative displays offer insight into Estonia’s time under Soviet rule.

You can only visit the museum if accompanied by a local guide. Tours run roughly every hour throughout the week; they should be booked in advance (through the hotel’s website), and cost around seven Euros – guests staying at Hotel Viru are offered a discounted rate.